14.9_40-45 8/16/05 11:54 AM Page 40
1. VITALS 2. ALL GEARED UP BAND: DREDG AGE: 26 HOMETOWN: REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA DRUMS: ORANGE COUNTY DRUM & PERCUSSION INFLUENCES: CHAD SMITH, TIM ALEXANDER, IGOR CAVALERA, VINNIE CYMBALS: ZILDJIAN HEADS: EVANS STICKS: VIC FIRTH PAUL, JOHN STANIER, CARTER BEAUFORD, ABE CUNNINGHAM HARDWARE: DW KEYBOARD: YAMAHA S90 CURRENT RELEASE: CATCH WITHOUT ARMS
40 DRUM! | WWW.DRUMMAGAZINE.COM 14.9_40-45 8/16/05 11:54 AM Page 41 VIBE LIVING THE DREAM We like that “feeling of being in awe and being blown STEWART ISBELL STEWART BY BILLY RAMIREZ BILLY BY away PHOTOGRAPHY BY
bearded and Carnegie Hall, yet Campanella’s barefoot bassist parents” are quite proud of their little jumps on stage, drummer boy (“they love it”), and followed by his can’t complain about the dudes he miniscule started jamming with. He and those guitarist, lanky same guys, known more commonly Adrummer, and a lead singer with as Dredg, hit the road this summer in perfect teeth. The opening guitar support of their newest album, Catch notes cause the anxious crowd to Without Arms. Tighter and more erupt. A tug-of-war ensues between powerful than their two previous band and audience to see who can albums, Catch shines due to the drown out the other. It appears that band’s tireless search for perfection. the drummer and his jackhammer “We wanted to develop the songs snare hits are in the lead. He’s better than we ever did. We worked maybe 20 seconds into the song and hard on the songwriting, [more] than already soaked in sweat. This cat we ever did previously. If people just hits hard. think that the songs are more Dino Campanella has been accessible, it’s because we worked splintering wood since his eighth- hard. We allotted more time in grade graduation when his parents preproduction on this record and bought him his first drum set. Before writing. We demoed every song that, he had tickled the ivories, albeit before we actually recorded them for more delicately. “I never did [take the record. We tried a million drum lessons]. I took piano lessons different arrangements. We for years. I practiced really hard,” overanalyzed everything until it Campanella says emphatically. “I was drove us crazy, but we were happy classically trained. I played everyday in the end.”
DINO for at least an hour and did all these His knowledge of piano and recitals when I was a kid. My mom music theory has served Campanella was an amazing accordion player. She well. Some songs on the album were really turned me on to music, and developed around chord progressions pretty much forced me to play piano and patterns that he developed on the when I was a kid. They wanted me to keys. “I write a lot of stuff on piano, be a concert pianist and to play with so it kind of brings another element symphonies.” to the writing. The piano is next to Admittedly, the young, sweaty me at all times when I’m playing audiences that he drums for today are drums. It’s definitely a big part of this CAMPANELLA more than a stone’s throw from record. I kind of started messing
OCTOBER 2005 41 14.9_40-45 8/16/05 12:13 PM Page 42
VIBECAMPANELLACAMPANELLACONTINUEDCONTINUED 3. INSIDE TRACKS DREDG We CATCH WITHOUT ARMS “ INTERSCOPE overanalyzed Like baseball nuts drooling over batting averages, assault 20 years ago. The difference is that their we music journalists love to squint through lists drummer, Mark Brzezicki, often battled through everything of rock and roll genres, parsing this band over the mix with furies of tight rolls, rhythmic there and so on. Listening to Catch Without Arms, crescendos, and cymbal explosions, as if flailing though, it occurs to me that there’s a neglected for air in the turbulent sea. Clearly, Dino until it subset – a spawn, as it were – of power pop and Campanella has comparable chops; his shifts emo, which I hereby christen “wall o’ sound.” You from silence to wild thrashings are the main drove us can follow one thread back to Phil Spector if you source of dynamic contrast on “The Tanbark Is like, but the defining characteristic really is that Hot Lava.” Mostly, however, he sticks to basics, crazy guitars, specifically, have to be the source of this delineating double- and half-time sections, sonic tsunami. In some ways, the precedent for throwing in some deft pedal work, and otherwise how Dredg does it here is Big Country, the blending himself into one of this season’s most underrated Scottish combo best known for adding powerful audio experiences. a bagpipe-like e-bow to the top of the guitar – Robert L. Doerschuk
around and improvising – playing a figure, or a piano figure, or a bass line, or truly ourselves,” Campanella proclaims. melody with my left hand and playing” a a drumbeat, or a vocal melody. It’s like a “Bands that are true to themselves are the beat with my right hand.” seed to the song.” most interesting. As long as you sound The more you get to know the Such egalitarianism is a byproduct of confident in what you’re doing, I think members of Dredg, the more you growing together. Over more than a people react to that. We don’t sound like understand that these guys mean business. decade, they have a developed a chemistry any other band – and that’s one thing I’m In fact, Campanella studied music that makes their tightly woven songs flow most proud of. You can hear influences in business at USC, guitarist Mark Engles effortlessly. “It would be definitely anything nowadays, but you can’t say that studied combined sciences at Santa Clara different if we had not grown up together, we sound like a derivative of anything out University, and singer Gavin Hayes and of course,” Campanella says. “The there. I think that’s one of the hardest bassist Drew Roulette studied art at chemistry is so solid because we know things to accomplish. It took us a long Northern Arizona University and San each other so well. There’s a connection time to get here. We started off sounding Diego State University, respectively. that’s so deep. It’s just not four guys not so unique, but we developed our As educated as they are, though, the jamming. It’s four guys talking, making own style.” band members aren’t all business. “There’s conversation, and totally understanding The Dredg dudes can be proud of the something about how a great piece of art each other. It’s great.” fact that they hammered together their makes you feel,” Campanella says. “We And they definitely have a formula that own bandwagon rather than jumping on enjoy that feeling of being in awe and works, although the music is hard to someone else’s. But it’s a lot easier for being blown away. We like to write music categorize. Think U2 meets Pink Floyd, record company execs to market a band that touches you at that same level. It and New Order drops by every now and that apes this month’s flavor rather than starts with anything. It starts with a guitar then. Or something like that. “We are one that covets unexplored territories. ➺
4. “THE TANBARK IS HOT LAVA”Transcription by Anthony Geluso This part really popped out, largely because of the tight unison rhythm, which, surprisingly, dropped a beat every other measure. So you have this 4/4, 3/4 thing happening throughout the section. The tasty thirty-second-note bass drum licks and toms add a little impact to the part. q=88 f 4 6
42 DRUM! | WWW.DRUMMAGAZINE.COM 14.9_40-45 8/15/05 5:46 PM Page 45
VIBECAMPANELLACAMPANELLACONTINUEDCONTINUED “There’s never been a lot of promotion for come true,” he gleefully elucidates. to get caught up on what’s going to the band,” Campanella says, without a Maybe someday Dredg will start raking happen later. As long as it feels that it’s hint of regret. “It’s totally word-of-mouth, in the awards and Campanella will win growing steadily, which it does, it feels and totally grassroots. We’ve done a lot of scads of reader polls. It can happen, but really good. Being able to play for your touring, but all these fans are here because right now he’s happy just being able to see fans is just great because they’re just there they enjoy the music and not because it’s a bunch of kids rock out in a sweaty club for you and they’re appreciative, especially the hot thing on TV or on the radio. every night. “It’s what I love more than for a band like us that needs more than 30 That’s flattering because that shows we’re anything. I hate being off-tour. I’m the minutes sometimes to show all the doing something people really like and happiest when I’m performing every night. elements. My dream for this record is that not because we’re fashion-whores or Being able to be out here playing for it keeps us going. I want to make another something like that. It’s all about music. people and continue to stay on tour and one. I’ll make ten more!” I’ll be scared if this thing were on MTV being sufficient is my dream. I’m living That’s a lot of albums. Dredg fans all all of a sudden. I don’t care about having my dream being able to do this. I try not over are rejoicing. more money. I see these people that come to five or six shows on this tour and driving ten hours to come see us. That’s incredible.” Dredg fans aren’t alone. Campanella and his mates do more than their share of driving, and the hard-hitting drummer has turned to yoga to soothe his body from the effects of touring and his intense drumming style. Tendonitis had plagued him on previous tours, and while yoga has made him pain-free, Campanella would gladly destroy his body every night to hear the roar of Dredg’s devoted fans. Normally an overused and nearly meaningless cliché, it really is about the fans. “They’re so motivational,” Campanella says. “You come out here and you play to people and they tell you what the music does for them. That’s when we go, ‘We are lucky to be doing this.’ I’m so happy I can help someone and make somebody happy indirectly or directly when they come to the show. Being able to inspire young musicians who are learning how to play is one of the greatest feelings ever. There’s no better feeling than to help someone like that. I was that kid when I was 14, I went to all the shows. I would sneak out of the house on a school night and go to a late show and see my favorite bands. Now when I meet those kids it’s like I’m meeting myself. It’s amazing. I love it.” The new album is destined to reposition the band. The single, “Bug Eyes,” has been spun on the radio, and its video has received some tube time. For good reason, Campanella is excited and confident that the album will help the band experience hard-earned exposure. “I feel people will be coming to see us maybe more than [they have been]. I believe our fan base will grow. I never expect an album to be huge because that’s bad karma and bad luck, but the opportunity to be playing to people every night is a dream
OCTOBER 2005 45